Books: Puzzle Without Solution

STILWELL AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA, 1911-45 by Barbara W.
Tuchman. 621 pages. Macmillan. $10.

For as long as anyone can remember, China has puzzled Americans. U.S.
feelings have been a mixture of fascination, affectionand disastrous
delusion. During World War II the result was complete military failure
in China as well as a legacy of bitterness between China and the U.S.
So argues Barbara Tuchman. The value of her engrossing popular history
is that it provides a kind of psychological purgative.

The American fantasythat the U.S. could be China's protectorbegan
about the turn...